Track is my field: Mark Cullen's international track and field blog featuring storytelling, commentary, and predictions and event analyses for the Olympics and World Championships. I'm writing from the 2017 World Championships in London. I'm active on twitter: @trackerati

Friday, August 11, 2017

Steeple Shocker

Emma Coburn and Courtney Freirichs stunned the distance running world with a wholly unexpected 1-2 triumph in the women's 3000m steeplechase at the World Championships in London.Coburn set a personal, American, and Championship record of 9:02.58, breaking her previous best by over 5 seconds.Frerichs' 9:03.77 broke her own best by an astounding 15.32 seconds. She came in with a best of 9:19.09 and left as #7 on the all-time world list, with Coburn ahead of her at #6.In a dramatic and electrifying final lap, Coburn and Frerichs sprinted away from the Kenyan and Bahraini athletes at precisely the moment it might have been expected that the reverse would happen.Not tonight.As they sprinted off the last water jump, Coburn broke away for the win while Frerichs sprinted away from Kenya's Hyvin Kiyeng Jepkemoi for silver.In a historic race whose implications will reverberate for years to come, Coburn and Frerichs rewrote expectations for US women in the steeplechase.With Evan Jager's bronze, the US won half of the steeple medals here and recorded a nifty tally of gold, silver, and bronze.Frerichs summarized it best when she asked - several times - "Is this really happening?"

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@Trackerati

I'm active on Twitter every evening at Worlds. I'm live-tweeting the throws for the Throwholics website, but will chime in with other updates. I'll also post a daily piece here, whether a summary of events or a reflection on a single aspect of these championships.